Bear Behavior

Andean bear behavior is
still not fully understood. They are such shy, cautious
animals that
it is difficult to study them in the wild, and their behavior in
captivity may not necessarily be the same.

Feeding Behavior:
Andean bears are very adaptable and opportunistic, so it is not
possible to talk about an "average" bear. Their diet and
behavior depends on their local habitat, so it is necessary to specify
the bear's location. Those living in
cloud forest habitats in the north of Ecuador (the study area of this
project) have a diet largely based on the bamboo-like
"suro". The bears eat the juicy stems of the plant by ripping
them open using
their claws and using the hind limbs to hold them in position.
In a
similar way, bears in the paramo feed mainly on the stems
of frailejon plants. The bear eats them in
the same way
as the suro, tearing them open and eating the soft centre.
The agile bears climb trees to access epiphytic
bromeliads (plants which grow on tree branches) and tree fruits such as
figs and wild avocadoes. Bears
also dig holes in the ground to forage for beetles, worms and other
various insects as a source of
protein in their diet.

Agility:
Andean Bears are agile
climbers, not only
of trees but also of rock walls. They are also very good
swimmers.

Activity patterns:
Andean bears are diurnal (active during daylight hours) and
crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk). They are NOT
nocturnal, though you may find incorrect information
stating that
they are - this is from a time when very little was known about the
bears. They snooze at times during the day, but are mostly
active. Andean bear activity declines as it gets dark, they
sleep
deeply for a few hours before sunrise and their activity increases
again as it gets light.

Platforms:
Andean
bears build platform structures high up in trees by pulling
down branches and lianas to form
a flat area large enough and strong enough to take their
weight.
The bears don't sleep in the high platforms overnight,
but use them for resting or eating during the day. These
arboreal
platforms are not used for giving birth or raising
cubs. As
explained in the Bear
Ecology page, bears eat corn and
very occasionally
livestock. The bears also
seem to use the platforms for spying on cornfields and cow
fields, perhaps to pick a suitable moment to enter the cornfield or
attack a cow. This
contradicts the ethologist school of thought that animals only act upon
instinct, and do not think coherently.

Social Interaction:
Andean bears are solitary
animals, rarely coming into
contact with other bears. However, they do interact with each
other to
a certain extent and seem to leave messages for other bears.
Bears
leave
messages on various types of trees, including especially those
of the cedrillo family (Brunelia
sp.). They do this by
rubbing
their backs against the tree trunks, leaving scratch marks with their
claws, and
perhaps urinating or leaving a hormonal secretion around the scratched
area.
Having olfaction (smell) as their principal sense, other
bears can detect these
signals from far away. One reason for leaving messages might
be to pass
on news to the
opposite sex of their presence in a certain part of the forest for
mating in the bears’ equivalent of a lonely hearts column.
Male bear, 2 metres tall, age 11 with spectacles,
outgoing nature,
searching for female of the species for a good time in the
trees...

Andean bears are very
cautious and avoid contact with humans.
Due to their excellent sense of smell, it is rare for a human
to get close to an Andean bear, but in these cases usually the
bears will turn around and run or climb the nearest
tree.

Reproduction:
Occasionally, when a
female is on heat, there may be a number of males
following her and perhaps even fighting for her attentions.
The bears usually give birth to one or two cubs. It
is not
known
exactly how long bear cubs stay with the mother in the wild, but we
believe around a year. Little is known
about reproduction of Andean bears in the wild, but some zoo bears
have bred successfully in captivity. Andean bear
cubs
have a page to themselves.

Hibernation: Andean
bears do not hibernate. Their range in the neotropics has
high levels of biodiversity and there is sufficient food available all
year round.